DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Saudi
Arabia should see the attack this weekend on its oil facilities as a warning to
end its Yemen war.
Rouhani made
the comments at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday in Tehran.
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| FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019 file photo, a satellite image from Planet Labs Inc. shows thick black smoke rising from Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing facility in Buqyaq, Saudi Arabia. The assault on the beating heart of Saudi Arabia's vast oil empire follows a new and dangerous pattern that's emerged across the Persian Gulf this summer of precise attacks that leave few obvious clues of who launched them. |
In the video
released by state TV, Rouhani did not address U.S. and Saudi allegations that
Iran was behind the attack Saturday.
A Saudi-led
coalition has been battling Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels since March
2015.
France is
sending experts to help investigate drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.
French
President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced the move in a statement Wednesday
after the French leader spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The
statement says the French experts are going at Saudi request to help “shed all
light on the origin and methods” of the attacks.
Macron
denounced the attacks and stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia’s security.
Macron’s
office said Tuesday that France is continuing diplomatic efforts to reduce
tensions around the Persian Gulf.
Saturday’s
attack targeted the world’s largest oil processing facility and a major oil
field in Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed the attack, though the
U.S. and Saudi Arabia suspect Iran was behind the assault. Iran denies being
involved.
Saudi Arabia
says it is joining a U.S.-led coalition to secure the Mideast’s waterways after
an attack targeting its crucial oil industry.
The
state-run Saudi Press Agency carried a statement Wednesday morning quoting an
unnamed official saying the kingdom had joined the International Maritime
Security Construct.
That’s a
mission already joined by Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom.
The U.S.
formed the coalition after attacks on oil tankers that American officials blame
on Iran, as well as Iran’s seizure of tankers in the region. Iran denies being
behind the tanker explosions.
The U.S.
military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Saturday,
an attack struck the world’s biggest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia. - AP
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